Not Vertigo (again)

Previously I posted about a patient who had symptoms of giddiness and vertigo, but turned out to have a heart attack instead.

This time, I saw a patient with 3 episodes of giddiness over one week. He also experienced cold sweat during these episodes. Additionally, he felt physically tired – so much so that he could not walk his usual 2km – he had to stop after half the distance.

When I saw him, he was not terribly distressed but was drenched in sweat. Worried that it might be a heart attack, I advised him to go to the emergency department for further evaluation.

Turns out it wasn’t a heart attack – his X-Ray showed some signs of a chest infection. He had not complained of fever, cough, or breathlessness; his description was more of fatigue – a sense of tiredness and feeling weak. Good thing we had the investigations done for him…